Peter Welch: podcast appearances and interviews

Peter Francis Welch, born on May 2, 1947, is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Vermont's at-large congressional district from 2007 to 2023. Welch has been a significant figure in Vermont politics for over four decades and is only the second Democrat to serve as a U.S. senator from Vermont, following Patrick Leahy. Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, he graduated from the College of the Holy Cross and the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. His career includes practicing law as a public defender and later as a personal injury lawyer, founding his own law practice.

Welch served in the Vermont Senate from 1981 to 1989, where he held roles including minority leader and Senate president pro tempore, the first Democrat to hold the latter position. In 1988, he left his Senate seat to run for the U.S. House of Representatives but lost the Democratic primary. He also ran unsuccessfully for governor of Vermont in 1990. He returned to the Vermont Senate in 2001, serving until 2007 and holding the position of Senate president from 2003 to 2007. In 2006, Welch was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, succeeding Bernie Sanders. In 2021, he announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat of the retiring Patrick Leahy, won the Democratic primary in August 2022, and secured the general election in November 2022. At age 75, he became the oldest person to be elected as a first-time U.S. senator.